


It's Cold Outside (I'll Show you the Warmth of my Heart)

by RosePetalsAndRain



Series: The Warmth of your Soul and Mine [2]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Crack, Cute, Fluff, Han Jisung | Han is Whipped, Lee Minho | Lee Know is Whipped, M/M, Meet-Cute, No Angst, Romantic Soulmates, Self-Indulgent, Soulmates, Strangers to Lovers, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, everyones whipped and gay and there are soulmates thats it thats the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:27:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26025706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosePetalsAndRain/pseuds/RosePetalsAndRain
Summary: Minho had no time to explain; head spinning and words feeling too big to leave his mouth without being hopelessly jumbled, so instead he thrust his arm right in front of the other’s face. “Felix. Feel me. Feel my hand.” Those fragments would have to do. “I’m fucking HOT.” Damn right he was.“Well, shit.” Felix’s face broke out into a huge grin and he looked around at Jeongin and Hyunjin; the younger already half out of his seat in his realisation. “Another soulmate reunion? It’s only been three weeks since Jeongin’s!”---Or... Sequel to Warming up to (for) you, but this can absolutely be read alone! Minho and Jisung soulmate prompt: wherein finding your soulmate is just one bit game of hot and cold.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Yang Jeongin | I.N, Kim Seungmin/Lee Felix
Series: The Warmth of your Soul and Mine [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1889056
Comments: 11
Kudos: 298





	It's Cold Outside (I'll Show you the Warmth of my Heart)

**Author's Note:**

> GOOD DAY DISTINGUISHED FOLK i hope you're all doing well! Since the first soulmate fic got such a lovely response and a few people wanted to see a minsung sequel after i left things on a little bit of a cliffhanger in a way, I've written the sequel, so here it is! I hope this satisfies all of your hot-cold-soulmate needs. I'll definitely be writing more of this universe in the future, so this isn't the last one just yet! I hope you enjoy <3

“I still can’t believe you found your soulmate because of me.” 

Lee Minho: dance god, real-life human cat, filter lover- the boy in question went by a lot of nicknames and reputations. But right now, all of them were tossed carelessly into the wind that wound its way around his university campus and had been replaced by one single title: Soulmate Finder.

Just two days ago, he had helped his good friend and dongsaeng, Yang Jeongin find his soulmate via an impromptu road trip that had led to the younger almost passing out from his sheer body temperature, but hey! What was life without a little drama?-- the younger  _ had  _ walked away from the situation with a  _ very _ hot soulmate, so really, the dramatics just added to the...  _ flavour _ of their story. 

A little spice, if you will.

In truth, the cat-eyed elder had also had his own ulterior, slightly selfish reasons for driving Jeongin around in order to try and locate his soulmate that day too- as much as he wanted to help his friend find his soulmate, he himself had also been waking up to find himself feeling warmer each day, and  _ knew  _ his own soulmate was getting closer. Maybe if he drove Jeongin around to find  _ his _ soulmate, Minho would gather some idea of which direction to search for his own?

Alas. That part was unsuccessful; Minho had only grown colder, if anything. 

Oh, yes. The explanation of the whole ordeal: although science could explain nothing, soulmates who hadn’t yet met each other had to endure a global game of hot-or-cold in accordance with their proximity to each other, which would only break when the pair, or group in some cases, finally united and physically touched: their body temperatures would regulate for the first times in their lives. 

So Lee Minho, like many before and after him, had spent his own life freezingly cold to the touch, and had a habit of shivering and jittering at the worst times to do so. You wouldn’t guess that one could  _ audibly _ shiver, but Minho managed that part just fine.

Jeongin had suffered a lot more than Minho himself had, he knew; Minho himself could handle the cold a  _ lot _ better than Jeongin could, and the elder of the two didn’t like the experience of the negativity that came with wallowing in his feelings about being so far away from his soulmate that even his blood felt icy within his veins-- so he did what any self-respecting university student would do in his situation: buried his feelings about it under a facade of distractions and good ramen for the good majority of his life. 

Sure, loneliness would sneak it's hard fingers through his ribs and into his chest late at night; even more so once more and more of his friends started finding their own soulmates, but Minho liked to think that he didn’t let it affect him.

Up until recently, that is. 

Exactly one day before Jeongin himself had found his soulmate with the help of his beloved hyung, Minho had woken up feeling… well. 

Warm wasn’t the word for it just yet, but his feet didn’t feel like blocks of ice that he had to rub and wiggle about to get the blood flowing to before he got out of bed. His fingers, too, were moveable without being painfully stiff as they had been every morning beforehand… his soul temperature was melting. Thawing. Slowly... but this was a start.

Admittedly, Minho hadn’t known what to do. Maybe he should have told someone, but he was used to being the hyung- although in no way responsible- of the group, and always felt strange confiding in his friends with his life because of this. It always worked the other way around:  _ they  _ came to  _ him  _ about things, but he would never burden them with his  _ own  _ problems and predicaments unless they involved cats and chaos. 

_ I’ll give it a few days, _ he’d thought to himself as he wiggled his fingers and toes pleasurably, enjoying the fact that he now had five more minutes to add to his morning routine now that they wouldn’t be spent trying to get his bones to move,  _ and see if anything changes before trying anything out. _

But a few days had turned into a meagre few hours as the thought of his soulmate being somewhere close enough to him to make him warm up even just a  _ little bit _ , and when Jeongin facetimed their friendship group that night, Minho made a split-second decision to offer to drive their youngest around the next day in search of his soulmate. And maybe get a feel for whichever direction his own soulmate was located, too. No big deal. Jeongin was his  _ first _ priority, after all.

Of course, he had ended up uniting Jeongin with his soulmate, a tall blonde-haired boy named Hyunjin who had come running out of nowhere after Jeongin had collapsed from his alarmingly high body heat in a service station during a sudden snack break. If Minho had shed a tear or two at the joy of seeing his friend united with his soulmate, he didn’t mention it. 

(Jeongin and Hyunjin had been far too wrapped up in each other to notice, anyway. There were no witnesses.) 

Of course, the day was slightly bittersweet for him since he found himself getting colder again, but in a way, that was  _ convenient _ as his icy skin was able to keep Jeongin sane whilst the youngster was overheating seconds before his own union. Everything happens for a reason. 

So now, fast-forward back to two days later, and we’re brought back to the conversation at hand. 

“It wasn’t  _ because _ of you, hyung, it was pot luck that you swerved into that one service station for snacks,” Jeongin shot back, the grin on his face contrasting his mock-argumentative tone. 

“Exactly! Had I not done that, we would have zoomed straight past Hyunjin and the whole ordeal would have been even more dragged out.” the elder cackled as Jeongin’s eyes shifted from side to side, unable to form a counterargument. “I rest my case!” 

“Okay then, Mr. Soulmate Matcher, where’s your soulmate? Felt anything different recently?”

Shifting slightly under the younger’s intense gaze, Minho swallowed hard and shook his head, lying through his teeth- if you could call it that, seeing as he’d said nothing. Oh, nevermind- “Nope.” Couldn’t have kept your mouth shut, Lee?

He was, of course, fibbing through the skin of his teeth. Just yesterday, his constant goosebumps had finally disappeared; the lumps of ice usually tracing his skin like a feather-light kiss flattening back down against his skin comfortably. It felt almost like an embrace, and Minho now loved running his hands over his now-smooth arms when he was alone. But he was still wearing long sleeves; still too cold for short sleeves, and so he didn’t think it was anything important enough to mention just yet. 

Apart from loving the sensation of being able to shower without shivering under the hot water that seemed to bounce off his skin, not warming him at all until now, Minho knew he had priorities to focus on before his soulmate, wherever they were. He had a dance showcase coming up in just one week! He couldn’t let himself get distracted because he’d warmed up a few degrees. As long as he could still dance comfortably, that was all he had plans to focus on right now. Fate would have him meet his soulmate one day or another, and Minho believed that if this time was the right time, he’d be able to balance everything at once without actively seeking his soulmate out.

He hoped.

“Hmm.” Jeongin looked suspicious. “You’re not wearing as many layers as usual, though.”

“I have dance class later. It’s a hassle to shuck off all of my layers for that.” a good excuse, Minho congratulated himself. “Don’t worry about me, Mr Yang. Anyway, how’s Hyunjin doing?”

Jeongin’s face melted into a dopey smile at the mention of Hyunjin’s name, and Minho snorted at the sight of the usually defensive boy almost melting at the table. “He’s good. He’s got a shift at work right now so he can pay rent until university starts next year, but he’s going to drive over afterwards so we can hang out again.” The blonde had moved back to Korea to find Jeongin, and had enrolled in a university course in a nearby university that would only start the following year, and so he had picked up a job in a coffee shop to go towards rent until he could move into a hall of residence.

“Be safe,” Minho couldn’t resist, and Jeongin scowled, looking much more like the young boy Minho knew so well. “I’m kidding. Have fun though, yeah? Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Jeongin scoffed playfully. “You say that like you didn’t literally bring a kitten back to your dorm out of nowhere one day and raise it for three months without your RA knowing.”

Smiling at the memory, Minho’s chest puffed out with pride. He had, indeed, done that; the kitty he had named Dori now resided at his family home miles away after he had been inevitably caught in the act of keeping an animal in the dorms. At least he could still see her when he went home during breaks in the semesters. 

Tiny baby Dori. She’d be a lot bigger now, though. 

Anyway. 

“Then I’m not saying not to do that!” Minho winked badly; both eyes closing against his will instead of just the one. “Anyway, I have class now, so I gotta go. I won’t see you later because we’re staying late to practise for the showcase. Tell Hyunjin I said hello.” 

Jeongin’s eyes crinkled up into crescents as Minho gathered his belongings and stood up. “See you tomorrow then, hyung!” 

***

Panting heavily, Minho wiped the sweat from his forehead as he reached for his water bottle, post-dance class. One thing that never failed to confuse people was that no matter your body temperature pre-soulmate finding, you’d still sweat when exercising. Minho was used to being drenched in a cold sweat after practise by now, and today was no exception, except it was a little… warmer than usual. Still just as gross. 

“You look distracted today,” Felix mentioned casually in between swigs of water. “You weren’t as... immersed in the choreography as you usually are.” The two had stayed behind with the majority of their peers for hours after their actual class had ended, and now it was nearing nine oclock at night: everyone had made the collective decision to finally disperse and rest. They couldn’t risk overworking themselves just one week before the showcase and sustaining injuries that would prevent them from performing. 

“Oh? I guess I was,” Minho shrugged it off. “Just stressed about the showcase, is all.”

The younger boy eyed him, but didn’t press the issue. “Okay. Remember to take care of yourself, yeah? Get enough sleep and make sure you’re eating enough.”

“Hey, I’m the one supposed to be telling you all that, youngling,” Minho laughed, ruffling Felix’s hair with his free hand. “I will, though. Thank you.” 

***

Preparing for the upcoming showcase was certainly a little different than usual as Minho’s body temperature rose and his sweat turned warmer; almost disgustingly so in comparison to the cool sheen of perspiration he usually dealt with on normal days. But he powered through, feeling like a true trooper and honestly, rather proud of himself for persevering in the change of events, however normal it was in the real world. It was different for  _ him _ , to feel like this, and to hell with anyone who would tell him that it happens to everybody. He was adapting, and for that, he was proud of himself. 

Three days to go until the showcase, and weirdly, Minho hadn’t felt any temperature change in a whole day. He supposed he should be grateful; the universe was perhaps giving him an opportunity to focus on his grades first and soulmate second. 

And focus on his grades he did: too many late-nighters were pulled that almost stretched into all-nighters, but Felix had been a true gem; remembering to drag him out of the studios at ass o’clock in the morning, reminding him to _get some sleep or he’ll be in no fit state for the showcase at_ _all._

Eventually, after what felt like three more  _ millennia _ instead of three more days and nights, the day of the showcase finally descended upon the dancers of their university; their building full of bustling students in varying costumes and outfits, applying makeup and making sure to stretch extra well for the utmost performance quality. 

“Why do we have to perform in front of a huge audience for our grades?” Felix whined as he applied pressed powder to his face. “It just makes things more nerve-wracking… I wish we could just perform in front of our  _ class _ , instead of this theatre full of students.” 

“I felt that,” Minho empathised, one leg out in front of him as he stretched to touch his toes, before switching to the other leg. “Too much pressure for one grade. But at least it entertains our friends?”

“I can entertain them in a different way to having my class projects shown on stage for them!” Felix was clearly letting the nerves take over him as he talked, “Movie nights are just as fun. But no stress.”

“Lix, you’re going to do just fine.” Lowering his other leg and stretching towards the ceiling before padding over to the younger boy, Minho sat down beside Felix in front of the handheld mirror he’d brought in from his dorm and slung an arm around his shoulders. “You’re not usually this nervous. Is anything wrong?” 

“I don’t think so…” Felix deflated; leaned into Minho’s comforting touch. “Everything’s just the same. I guess I’ve just over-thought things this time…” 

“Well, I know you’re going to nail this, just like every time,” Minho promised, standing back up and pulling Felix to his feet along with him. “Seungmin’s out there watching, too, isn’t he? Pretend he’s the only one out there.” 

Felix smiled at the name drop of his soulmate, and visibly relaxed, just a little. 

“Yeah. I will. Thanks, hyungie.” 

“Of course. Any time.” 

  
  
  


The night, as predicted, went without any hitches whatsoever; everybody was so used to performing on the familiar stage at this point that there was no hesitance of “where do I stand”, or “when do I come in”; navigating the stage felt like muscle memory, and Minho let himself be pulled along by it; losing himself in the music and familiar movements of both the group choreographies he was a part of, and his two solo pieces.

His solos in particular were greeted by uproarious rounds of applause, and though he struggled to see out into the crowd due to the bright lights pointed at himself, he was sure that he received a standing ovation. 

Chest puffed out with pride, he made his way offstage to change and wipe the thick stage makeup from his face, ready to go back to the dorm and just  _ rest _ . 

“Hyung, that was incredible!” Instantly he was assaulted with an armful of Felix, who had been waiting for him in the wings of the stage. 

“Your performance was impeccable, Lix,” Minho cheered. “You really did nail it.” 

“And it’s over now!” Felix grinned and bounced up and down, not bothering to detangle himself from the elder’s arms. “I think everyone’s waiting for us… are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Minho said, and readied himself for the round of congratulations and hugs he would undoubtedly receive from their friends. It was probably his favourite part of the night; receiving validation for his hard work from the people who mattered to him the most. 

That, and the fact that their hugs and kind words also signified the night finally being  _ over _ . 

  
  


Time to go back to his dorm, curl up in bed and  _ sleep _ . 

***

It was the next day, and Minho had slept like a baby the whole night, not waking up once from a heavily deep slumber that his body finally had caved into like a landslide at the prospect of having nothing to keep him up worrying about. Thank  _ goodness. _ His body really needed that- but now he was faced with a  _ bigger _ problem: he was  _ dripping _ with sweat.

Hm.

The universe really did hold off right until the showcase was over, huh? Coincidence. 

Alarm bells went off in Minho’s head, and the only thing he could think was:  _ cold shower. Now. _ Anything else could wait until he’d cooled down again.

.

.

Well, that was a dumb move. He should have realised by now that a cold shower would do  _ nothing  _ to cool his soul temperature down, because, well- soulmate heat really did defy every single law of science. 

Minho simply settled for throwing on some shorts and a loose shirt before he sped out of his dorm, morning classes be damned. This was much more important- but really, he had no idea of where to go from here. So he did the first thing that came to mind: track down his friends, who would now be at the cosy coffee shop on-campus, stocking up on caffeine before their own classes. 

Throwing the door to the shop open like a whirlwind of heat, Minho’s gaze instantly honed in on Felix, who was standing next to a sitting Jeongin and Hyunjin, and stumbled towards them immediately.

“GUYS. Oh my god. Oh my god.” 

Three heads whipped around to the sweating man in question, and Minho’s head  _ spun _ . 

“Hyung. Breathe,” Felix handed him a half-full bottle of water with a smile, albeit a concerned one. Minho took it gratefully and downed the lot in one, needing something to calm him down and hydrate him for a second. Felix waited, and Jeongin and Hyunjin stared at their eldest friend in confusion. 

Not even a second after Minho had downed the bottle, Felix cut back in. “What’s going on?” 

Minho had no time to explain; head spinning and words feeling too big to leave his mouth without being hopelessly jumbled, so instead he thrust his arm right in front of the other’s face. “Felix. Feel me. Feel my hand.” Those fragments would have to do. “I’m fucking HOT.” Damn right he was. 

“Well, shit.” Felix’s face broke out into a huge grin and he looked around at Jeongin and Hyunjin; the younger already half out of his seat in his realisation. “Another soulmate reunion? It’s only been three weeks since Jeongin’s!” 

Minho let his arm fall back to his side as he breathed slowly in and out, trying to process his feelings before his feelings processed  _ him _ . 

“Road trip time!” Felix sang as Hyunjin, too, leapt out of his seat in glee and Jeongin pounced onto Minho, jumping with his whole weight and wrapping all four of his limbs around the dancer, who stumbled backwards a couple of steps before he regained full balance, giggling airily. 

“Damn, hyung, you feel like a furnace,” Jeongin purposely shoved his neck right into Minho’s neck to maximise heat transfer, the little shit. “I could fry an egg on you.”

“They’re hella close, is all I’m hearing,” Hyunjin chuckled. 

“Alright,” Felix tapped his phone, ending a spontaneous call, “I called Seungmin. He’s ditching class for this.”

“ _ Nice, _ ” Jeongin instantly snickered at the act of rebellion and jumped off Minho, who had started complaining about how much hotter he was getting with a whole other person clinging to him like a monkey. 

“Damn, Minho hyung, you’re  _ sweating,” _ Felix added unnecessarily, and Minho rolled his eyes, knowing damn well how hot he felt in that moment. 

“Where are we driving to on this road trip, then, dear Felix?”

“You are our satnav,” Hyunjin monotoned ominously. “You, Minho, are our compass. Our beacon, if you will. You shall lead us in your journey to find your other half. You shall act as our human metal detector-”

“Wherever your body is telling you to go,” Felix butted in helpfully with a tiny shove to the blonde who still hadn’t stopped monologuing. “Shh.”

“At this rate, any hotter and I’ll end up like Jeongin,” Minho ran a hand through his sweat-dampened hair and nodded his head towards the counter of the coffee shop. “I’ll get a cold drink whilst we wait for Seungmin.” 

“Get that ice, boss!” Jeongin cheered as the boiling dance major trudged over to the counter, ordering an iced pink lemonade because he  _ really _ needed some energy to keep him going right now. If he was honest, he was beginning to feel a little nauseated, but he tamped it down, attributing it all to nerves and the suddenness of the situation. 

As excited as he was about finally meeting his soulmate, he did almost wish that the heat would have come on a little  _ slower _ , instead of creeping up inch by inch before hitting him  _ all at once. _ At least Jeongin’s body temperature had crept up over a series of weeks… actually, now that he thought about it, he preferred getting everything over with as fast as possible; this heat was horrible. He just hoped it would be over by the end of the week at the  _ very _ most. 

“Iced lemonade for Minho!” the barista called, and Minho took it gratefully, cradling the drink to his forehead and enjoying the brief distraction from the heat it gave the area of skin it was pressed against. 

“Minho!” Hyunjin half-yelled across the coffee shop. “Seungmin’s finally here. Get your ass back over here so we can go searching for your other half.” 

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Minho didn’t even attempt to downplay his excitement anymore as he grinned, a thrill running through his body at Hyunjin’s words.  _ Let’s go find my soulmate. _

Unfortunately, the group didn’t even make it to Minho’s car before the eldest was hit with another heightened wave of heat, and he gasped involuntarily, legs wobbling. The group around him gasped too, seeing their elder clearly losing his ability to stand properly from the heat, but Minho found it within himself to cackle. 

“Is this what chicken feels like when we cook it?” he drawled, hugging his iced drink to himself, uncaring of the condensation that he was spreading onto his clothes; welcoming of it, even. It would add a layer of chill until his shirt dried, if anything. 

“Hyung, can you walk properly?” Felix was the most worried out of everyone, grabbing Minho’s arm to steady him as Seungmin took his other arm. 

“Mmh,,, a little wobby, but I’m good. I feel like my bones are melting. I’m a jellyfish!” 

Hyunjin snorted. “A  _ loud _ jellyfish.”

“Yes, indeed, good sir.” 

“Well, let’s at least keep walking until we reach the car, so you won’t wind up sitting on the floor,” Jeongin teased. “It’s not the best, on the floor. Been there.” 

Hyunjin wound an arm around his own soulmate at those words, grinning at the memory of literally having found Jeongin halfway-unconscious on the floor before they’d finally united. A great teasing point, but he’d save that for later in this circumstance. 

“Why is uniting with your soulmate such an inconvenient experience,” Felix complained as they made their way, slowly this time, towards the campus carpark. “You’d think it’s a sweet experience, but most people just straight up end up passing out or something unglamorous like that. I’d want to save the vulnerability for at  _ least _ a couple months into meeting someone.”

“Well, luckily for you, neither of us passed out,” Seungmin chuckled, tightening his grip on Minho’s bicep as the eldest wobbled. “Let’s just hope Minho hyung doesn’t either.”

“You’re doing great, just a few more cars,” Hyunjin encouraged. “We can turn the air conditioning on for you and everything.”

“Sounds good.” Minho’s words were slurred. 

Distantly, tires screeched as another car veered into the road beside the campus and car park, but everybody ignored the sound, occupied in unlocking Minho’s car for him and turning the keys in the ignition to get the air conditioning up and running, bare minimum. 

“I don’t think we should drive around,” Minho flopped into the front seat, legs still hanging out of the car as he leaned into the air vents that were now blowing out icy air. “I think I’m too hot for that right now… we could drive past them; they’re so close. I know it.”

“Go with your intuition, hyung,” Seungmin praised. “We could wait here for a bit until you’re feeling stronger, maybe? Or some of us could walk around now and look for anyone in a similar state to you?”

Minho was seeing stars. “Wait a second… one sec.” His hands felt weak; his drink slipping from his loosening grip. Thank goodness for Felix’s proximity and fast reflexes; he caught the drink after seeing it start to slip and pressed the thankfully still-cold plastic cup to Minho’s neck. 

“You good?”

“Mmmh…” 

“HEY!” Someone yelled across the street, and two heads- Hyunjin and Seungmin’s- snapped up to the source of the noise. “YO! IS YOUR FRIEND, LIKE, SOULMATE-HOT RIGHT NOW?”

Minho’s head, too, snapped up at the words, blearily looking across the street at the yeller. It was a boy around their age, with bleached blonde hair that curled around his ears like candy floss. 

“YEAH,” Jeongin screeched back, enjoying this experience  _ way _ too much. “WHO’S ASKING?” 

“MY FRIEND HERE,” Curly-haired Dude yelled back, and- oh yeah, no one had even noticed the smaller boy next to him, who looked about as if he was about to fall down himself at a moment’s notice. 

“Holy shit, I think that could be them,” Felix whisper-yelled, and Minho forced himself to stand, pushing himself up from the car with wobbly arms onto equally wobbly legs. 

“He’s cute,” he whispered back, and the boy across the road looked up at the group, pink at the cheeks and shiny with sweat. Even so, Minho thought that even from a distance, even slick with the heat, he was beautiful.

Something shifted within him. It was as if without even being within the desired proximity to this boy, he just  _ knew. _

“It’s go time, lads,” their eldest announced deliriously, and took off on a shaky jog across the car park and across the road towards the two boys, hardly bothering to look for cars- much to his friends’ acute terror.

Curly Boy grinned widely and gave the smaller boy- he, too, had blonde hair but his had pastel pink and blue streaks running through it- a small shove towards Minho as the smaller boy, who Minho could now see had the most  _ adorable _ puffy cheeks, stumbled towards the elder too, as if the two were being drawn by a magnet; an invisible force. And they guessed that, in some way, they were.

To Minho’s immense surprise and shock (but to be honest, he couldn’t find it in himself to complain) the boy in front of him practically  _ threw _ himself onto Minho once they were close enough, throwing his arms around the taller in a tight hug that had Minho’s arms pinned to his sides awkwardly. 

Minho giggled. It was slightly awkward, but all at once, everything just felt…  _ right. _

“Hi,” he whispered into the boy’s pink and blue streaked hair.

“I’m Jisung,” the boy didn’t let go, “what’s your name?”

An equally small boy jogged around the corner of the street, locking eyes on the scene and immediately pretending to retch onto the pavement. 

“JISUNG. What are you  _ doing,”  _ he yelled, sounding  _ very  _ amused but also a little confused. 

Jisung pulled back from Minho, who had yet to utter another word, and blinked. “Doesn’t physical contact make your body temperature regulate faster?”

‘Initial contact does, but not when you cling to them like a fucking koala,” the raven-haired boy cackled as he drew closer. “You’re just  _ conserving _ heat if you cling to him like that.”

“Oh.” Jisung looked up at Minho, eyes wide and apologetic. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, no,” Minho whispered, shaking his head to brush the apology off. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Hyung, you could have gotten run over like that,” Seungmin scolded- the group had caught up with the elder and had actually been road-safe and checked for cars, consequently missing their union; having to be content watching from across the road as a truck trundled by  _ far _ too slow for anyone’s liking. The group of Minho’s friends all visibly gave Jisung a once-over in unison. “Is this your soulmate?” 

“It seems like it,” Minho wasn’t aware, but his eyes were filled with stars as he stared at the smaller boy who’d just let go of him and was staring back with equally awestruck eyes, “I’m not nearly as hot as I was a minute ago.” 

“Yeah, now that he’s actually let go of you,” Changbin snickered behind his hand, but he truly was ecstatic for his friend. 

“If I hadn’t just met Minho hyung I’d cling to him just to counteract your words,” Jisung wrapped his arms around his own waist awkwardly and shuffled from foot to foot. “This feels strange. Like everything has changed… apart from nothing really  _ has _ , realistically.” 

“Yeah,” Minho agreed quietly, knowing exactly what Jisung means. “Precisely.” Though not many words had been exchanged between the two soulmates yet, Minho knew exactly how comfortable they’re going to get with each other, if his friends are anything to go by. And he, for one, cannot wait to know Jisung better, and create the soulmate-typical unbreakable bond that he’s only ever dreamed of in the past. 

And now, they  _ finally  _ have all the time in the world. 

  
  


*

(Bonus)

“I can’t believe Hyunjin and Jeongin had such a cute union story to tell,” Jisung is curled up in Minho’s lap; it’s a couple of months after they finally met. “Ours is so embarrassing! I ran into you and clung to you like a dumbass because I thought it would cool us down faster.” 

“It’s  _ cute, _ ” Minho laughs, running a gentle hand through his soulmate’s hair: Jisung had recently dyed it a soft orange colour, and it suited him beautifully. “I think we also have a cute union story.”

“It’s  _ embarrassing _ on my behalf,” Jisung whines; hides his face in his hands. “You’re just biased.”

As Minho stares down at the beautiful boy in his lap, he  _ feels.  _ Feels so many beautiful feelings that he’s never once felt before in his life. It’s only been a couple of months since they met, but everything had just felt as if it had fallen into place so intricately; and even though the two had agreed to stay friends until they knew each other better and then go from there- friends with a  _ lot _ of skinship, because hey! Skinship can be very platonic, too- Minho knows that the feeling blossoming within him is nothing even  _ close _ to the definition of platonic. 

It’s not love just yet, but he knows that soon, it may well bloom into just that. And he has no qualms at all about letting himself fall: he knows Jisung will be the man he spends the rest of his life with. 

Minho reaches down- takes Jisung’s hand; presses his lips to the soft skin there and enjoys the blush that instantly rises to the younger’s cheeks and coats the tips of his ears; can  _ feel _ the concentrated heat there as Jisung hides his face in Minho’s shoulder. 

They’re not cold anymore; and they have each other.

And that’s how it’s always going to be. 

**Author's Note:**

> Jisung: *koala clings to minho the second they meet*   
> minho: understandable have a nice day


End file.
